GENERAL:
CAROLINE LAVELLE: A Distant Bell CD
The previous albums from this leading and highly underrated singer-songwriter have shown her to be a singer who fused folk with elements of modern ambient wrapped in the subtlest of layers of classical, focusing on songs that ranged from the anthemic to the heart-felt, but always uplifting. Now, on the latest and third album, she's almost regressed and produced what is essentially a brooding, melancholy and yet optimistic folk-album that blends folk and strings in a most serene manner, with a voice that is mid-way between the softness of Bridget St John and the Northern grit of June Tabor. There's a positively romantic quality to the songs that slowly unfold, in classic "sitting-by-the-fireside" manner, and when she soars into life on the, initially, unaccompanied 'Banks Of The Nile' you have to pinch yourself that you haven't suddenly strayed into a June Tabor album, only with a much softer, rounder voice. As an album of low-key, heart-felt and thoroughly fascinating folk songs goes, this has you hooked from start to finish, its gorgeous moods and arrangements featuring strings, guitars, bass and keys below and around the voice that doesn't put a note out of place throughout.
DEKE LEONARD'S ICEBERG: Wireless CD
Deke Leonard has been - on and off - the lead guitarist for Welsh rockers Man since the late sixties and the seventies-era brand of dual lead guitar Man, as many will know, was one of the finest guitar bands to come out of the seventies. But at one point, Leonard quit the band to do a solo album called 'Iceberg' which featured a core band performing shorter, largely punchier songs that echoed Man only more distilled, and with some great guitar work on the rockier tracks, but the slower tracks making the album a tad inconsistent. He followed this up with a solo album, again revolving around a core band, called 'Kamikaze', again, in keeping with the first one, a tad inconsistent, less overtly "rock" and, something both shared at the time, hideously under-produced.
But, at the same time, the touring band he'd formed to promote the two albums, called Iceberg performed several John Peel radio sessions. This band, live in the studio, stripped to just guitars, bass and drums, played mostly tracks off the two albums and gave us versions that eclipsed the album versions by a country mile, with guitar work that would make even a grown Man fan weep in ecstasy over hearing. Other European radio sessions achieved exactly the same result. This then is, at last, a document of that band's radio work and it's simply sensational. With two sessions from '73 and '74, the feel is pure Man, as the band just drive headlong through steaming renditions of originals such as 'Razorblade & Rattlesnake',
'Jayhawk Sepcial', 'In Search Of Sara and 26 Horses' and more, alongside the cover of Man's 'A Hard Way To Live' and 'Daughter Of The Fireplace', the guitar work red hot and easily THE best versions of these songs that you'll hear. The set is completed with a Peel Session from 1978, and, unexpectedly (as I'd not heard the tracks before) the set easily sits alongside the classic performances from a few years earlier, that you've just heard. As a result, as is the case with so many seventies artists Radio Sessions albums, this is the finest recorded document of this band in existence, essential for fans of Man and anything seventies-influenced that's remotely similar.
MAN: History Of Man DBLCD
Whoever put this thing together is clearly a fan of the band and knows what makes a great Man album. The sleeve notes are practically non-existent, so you have no idea whatsoever of the origins of any of these tracks and from whence they date. That said, it's not as though you need to, because - and particularly if, like me, you're a "part time fan" of the band - this is just the business and I'll tell you why. Guitars!!! Loads of them!! For a start - and from what I gather, they're all live versions but the quality of recording is outstanding - you open up with a twelve minute rendition of their classic track, 'Bananas', as sure fire a vehicle for some stunning guitar interplay from the two lead guitarists, as the track rolls along through its fiery sound. If that wasn't enough, next up is a near twenty one minute run-through of 'Man's answer to 'Free Bird' in the form of the amazing 'Spunk Rock', a feast of guitars leads, duelling and interplay that, no matter how many times you hear it, you just never tire of it. Here they get it spot-on - just be carried along by the rolling, driving, solid rhythm section and then listen to those guitars sing - over twenty minutes of THE finest seventies styled guitar work known to man (hehe) as the band rise from peak to peak, climax to climax- just awesome. Then you get a seriously crunching version of the excellent seventies-originated song, and one of their better shorter tracks, 'Hard Way To Die' with Deke Leonard on a gritty lead vocal, some glorious vocal harmonies and some magical searing electric slide and lead electric guitar work on top - organ chords and strident rhythms driving it along. Similarly urgently paced - and another great short track - is 'Breaking Up Once Again' while the meltdown slows down for a mere sizzling seven minutes of 'The Welsh Connection' here a version that far outstrips its original studio counterpart, with a delicious feel to it, evoking the sounds and memories of seventies Peel and Bob Harris sessions as the guitars, keys and rhythm section roll on, this time a wonderful electric piano solo forming the initial lead vehicle as the guitars join the fray and the piano turns into a synth solo, all just superb stuff for the seventies fan. A driving six minutes of 'Born With A Future' is a bluesy number for the band with a searing Leonard vocal, infectious chorus and expansive vocal qualities, for this is a track that is dominated by the dual lead and harmony vocals and works a treat. Then it's onto a swaggering, bluesy rendition of the stage favourite 'Life On The Road' with its searing slide and lead guitars chiming above the bluesy, boozy vocals and chorus - bringing the first and stunning CD to a glorious end - and still another sixty minutes to go. A sizzling, and best shorter, five minute version of 'Ride And The View', suitably spooky and solid, again bluesy, starts proceedings as a couple of their bouncier four minute tracks follow, then it's right into a solid ten minutes of the mainly instrumental 'Would The Christians Wait Five Minutes', this one sounding like it really has come from the seventies with a lo-fi quality to it as the organ and guitars beging to build, the drums and bass sounding like they were recorded in the garage next door and the vocals two streets away. The comes nineteen minutes of 'Scholar Of Consciousness' again, clearly dated from an origina seventies recording, and presumably the same source as the previous track, as what obviously became the end of the later extended versions of 'Many Are Called' opens the track in mesmerising fashion, before wandering off into outer space only fort he band to return initially with bass upfront and drums behind, the quality not exactly brilliant, but a fascinating piece nevertheless. A similar quality four minute run-through of 'Daughter of The Fireplace' follows then, just as you're about to throw in the towel, it's saved with a stinging rendition of 'Many Are Called' at near ten minutes, a smoking gun of a track with some seriously stunning dual lead guitar work, soaring lead vocal and the band on fire - superb.
So, at this price, worth its weight in guitars for CD1 and just under a third of CD2, so you still can't argue - hellfire, it's worth the price just for 'Spunk Rock' (NOT the 'Greasy Truckers' version) on its own.
ROBERT PLANT AND THE STRANGE SENSATION: Mighty Rearranger CD
Before you think "oh, here we go - another boring Plant-y album", let me tell you that this - THIS!!!!! - is the finest album he's put out as a solo artist since - well, since he started outing albums out as a solo artist - yes, folks, it really is THAT hot. If I tell you that parts of it, in fact a lot of it, wouldn't have sounded out of place on the seminal 'Physical Graffiti' or 'Unledded' albums, you'll get some idea of, not only how hot the band he's assembled, plays it, but how the mighty Plant vocal has not sounded this good, this emotive, this strong and this confident in a long, long time. OK, so there's no Jimmy Page, but there is some seriously red hot electric guitar work at the heart of the album, so good in fact, that you don't miss it, while the band as an ensemble of electric guitars,bass and drums whip up a storm and play it tasty as required. But what sets this apart is the sheer standard of the songs - Plant hasn't written anything this good for decades, and the production brings it all shining out into the glorious open. You don't need a track by track review to understand that this is a stunning set of compositions, many of which rock with a vengeance, all of which are absolute quality stuff, and it really is safe to say - "love Zeppelin? - then you'll like this - a lot - megaloads - in spades - and then some - in short, sensational!!!
WISHBONE ASH: Phoenix Rising - Classic Ash Then And Now DVD
Just under ninety minutes of the band at their visual best, but, most importantly, plenty of previously unreleased footage from the seventies, particularly classic performances from TV broadcasts in 1971, 1972 and 1973 in the form of 'Vas Dis', 'Blowing Free', 'Warrior', 'Jailbait' and 'Where Were You Tomorrow' . Elsewhere, there are 7 previously unreleased tracks from a concert in London in 2003, these being red hot renditions of 'The King Will Come', 'Phoenix', 'Living Proof', 'Wings Of Desire', 'Ballad Of The Beacon' 'Blowin Free-reprise' and 'Bad Weather Blues'. With three further tracks from a 1989 video, this is the guitar band at its best, showcased to prove that they are every bit as good now as they were back then the twin guitar attack losing none of its magic, the songs sounding every bit as flowing and melodic as ever. Even visually it's good, if anything the band looking more lean and mean now than they did way back. Overall, of all the recent DVD's of this band, one of, if not THE, best.
INDUSTRIAL:
IN SLAUGHTER NATIVES: Resurrection - The Return Of A King CD
You don't so much listen to an In Slaughter Natives album, at least on first few plays, as "experience" it. Using what seems like an army of electronics, synths, drums, programmes, percussion, electronic drums, seemingly infinite layers and textures, this guy produces the perfect soundtrack for the end of the world. After a beat-less intro where all manner of exotic layers and textures are piled into the flowing composition and expansive mix, the album suddenly unleashes this torrent of drums and samples, synths and electronics, to drive the whole thing forward to levels of intensity allied to massive multi-tracking, that you'd have scarcely thought possible even to do, let alone to enjoy. But when this guy's going, he throws in the kitchen sink as this immense blast of all the aforementioned instruments, rhythms, textures and layers, drive, clatter and roar their way to the future - and when they add huge Gothic choirs, marching drums, and great walls of electronic sound, allied to the half-whispered, way down in the mix, vocal, this album simply takes the roof of your head off. A couple of deep, dark cosmic compositions in the middle provide a moment of brooding serenity from the onslaught, although even here there are more layers than you'd ever imagine, and then the drums roar back as the whole track takes on all manner of angelic choirs, booming drums, to provide yet another huge, dark and vast-sounding slice of Gothic Electro-Industrial music that is practically perfect.
OPHELIA'S DREAM: Not A Second Time CD
A gorgeous album that owes more to the huge solo-conglomerate career of Cyrille Verdeaux than anything with 14 songs that exude positive passion and sheer pleasure with every chord that rolls by. Covering an ocean of melodic magic from synths and piano with deep rumbling bass rivers, all sorts of effects and treatments, rumbling waves of percussive subtlety, all topped off with mournful hints of violin, more sparkling piano work and lots more. Throughout there are elements of classical, Heavenly Vocals, industrial space music and a general air of supreme confidence that glows. In many ways, it comes across as a much more solid version of the career of French trio 'Wapassou' only this lot have a much sharper focus, a greater edge, and just greater vision, as a result of which the combinations of drums, bass, synths, acoustic keys and guitars, and occasional heavenly female vocals, all go to make this one irresistible album.
SATOR ABSENTIA: The True Meaning Of Golgotha CD
In many ways this is similar, both in terms of feel and sound and intent, to that of In Slaughter Natives only this, while just as intense, focuses less on the giant rhythms and more on textures and layers. That said, there are some wickedly booming electronic and electro-percussive rhythms along the way, but the way the huge swathes of electronic, synth and treated soundscapes are created and assembled, is a wonder to behold. The whole thing wreaks of darkness and despair, with no obvious light at the end of an infinitely long tunnel, although the addition of violin textures gives the music its main source of optimistic comfort as the drones sound almost warm and cozy, amid a sea of factory-like sonic manipulations, deep space electronics and dark cosmic backdrops, the bass end of the spectrum booming and resonating like you're in the middle of some gigantic other-worldly starship. When the soundscapes veer into rising cauldrons of white-hot proportions or rhythms that threaten to shatter the windows, you feel almost claustrophobic, but then the whole thing becomes tranquil for just a few seconds until the clam is broken and the onslaught continues. A totally magnificent album of dark, huge-sounding, immaculately assembled electronic industrial music of epic proportions and infinite enjoyment.
V/A: Dependence - Next Level Electronics CD
Seventy six minute sampler for the leading EBM-derived label Dependent, a label who's currently responsible for putting out some of the finest, hardest, most consistent, driving, intense, consistently solid and crushingly heavy electronic dancefloor future classics. This 14 tracker features no less than 9 previously unreleased or rare tracks, making it even more of an essential purchase than it already is. Opening with an eight minute extended mix of 'Canaan' from Mindless Faith, it immediately unleashes a rampant torrent of heavy electronic and electro-percussive beats and rhythms above which a whole cauldron of synths, guitars and electronics, samples, huge rumbling bass undercurrents and evil-sounding, but properly "sung" vocals, hammer out a level of dancefloor intensity than even the most fiery pure trance or techno music could ever muster, with this immense sea of rhythms and synths and general EBM, to make you take notice right from the start. Then, via a variety of equally raging vari-paced tracks of skull-crushing intensity, the likes of Interlace, Mind In A Box, Seabound, , VNV Nation, Suicide Commando, Dismantled, Covenant and many more, produce a selection of napalm-soaked firepower, all within the context of genuinely brilliant songs and arrangements, that will leave your head in smoking ruins by the end, if you're brave enough to take it in one sitting. As the most explosive combinations of electronics and rock go, this is at the top of its tree and takes no prisoners.
JAZZ-ROCK/FUSION:
COMPANIYA ELECTRICA DHARMA: Tramuntana CD
An instrumental group from Spain that clearly were heading along the same musical avenues as a lot of the seventies Canterbury and German jazz-rock bands as the quintet pours forth a range of instrumentals featuring the sort of music that's languid at one end plus solid and powerful at the other, the combination of organ, electric piano, sax and electric guitar, weaving, soloing, duelling and generally playing together over the rhythm section that holds it all together and drives it all forward. With similar structures to things such as Softs, Passport, Good God and Zappa but with the emphasis on melody and tunes rather than anything "difficult" or "avant-garde". If you like the style of seventies fusion as practiced by those bands but fancy a different yet satisfying take on that way of doing things, then this will be right up your alley.
COSMIC FARM: Cosmic Farm CD
Almost going back to an idea that the prog-jazzers had in the eighties, we now have the new millennium rock-fusion supergroup, with the accent on fusion. The four participants are Craig Erickson on electric guitars, Rob Wasserman on bass, T.Lavitz on keyboards and Jeff Stipe on drums. The music is unashamedly jazz-rock based but infused with the more melodic approach of prog, although the latter's influence is very small. With most of the lead work done on organ and electric guitar, it evokes more of a spirit, sound and feel to that of the Jerry Garcia & Merle Saunders' 'Keystone' albums only entirely instrumental. The compositions flow easily enough and possess more than their fair share of melody and feel, technique more restrained but no less in evidence. It's good - OK, so it's been done a hundred times before - but it's easy to relax with and highly enjoyable on that languid yet strong level.
MACHINE & THE SYNERGETIC NUTS: Leap Second Neutral CD
Oddly enough, a Japanese band on an American label playing a brand of jazz-rock that's distinctly Germanic with a Canterbury flavour - which is why, in this music, you hear elements of Happy Family, Zappa, Passport & Soft Machine by the truckload. I expected this to be quite wild and avant-garde, but it surprised me by being highly charged and melodic, with some superb playing throughout, but a human heart controlling the compositional blood flow. The line-up of saxes, keyboards, bass and drums mirrors classic Soft Machine but the sound and style has more of a feel of vintage Passport to it, but when the sax player really lets go, the multi-tracking leads you to some of the parts of Zappa's 'King Kong', no bad thing in itself. For those missing their electric guitar work, there are some searing electric guitar leads on four of the album's nine tracks. It's a solid and utterly consistent performance that shines and, while it's nothing you've not heard before, it's rarely been done with such energy, enthusiasm and passion.
TONY SPADA: The Human Element CD/b>
Instrumental album of well-crafted prog-fusion with 11 tracks over forty-one minutes, and it's definitely Spada's baby, since every one of the eleven tracks is dominated by his electrifying guitar work throughout, except a couple of short acoustic pieces. The emphasis is on writing and arranging tracks that, while they really surge and drive, also are spread to the max with melodies and on-fire electric guitar work. In fact the album's closing track is a swirling whirlpool of thunderous guitars that suck you in for the three minutes that they're on to absolutely magnificent effect. Elsewhere, it's a similar tale with the album opening on, Iraqiroll', a surging tidal wave of soaring electric guitar leads and sparkling riffs, not to mention an electric bass that's in a league of its own, while the drummer motors his way through the proceedings with passion and determination. When the guitar leads are multi-tracked it sounds like a veritable guitar army on the go as the effect is magnificent. Track 2, 'Jack The Hat', is equally powerful only slower, more flowing, with a great keyboard presence providing an even greater textural range. The magical thing about this music is how its arranging and composing has managed to make it cover a wide range of technical, emotional and sonic bases, yet sound so cohesive and natural, so that you instantly get into any one track while having the luxury of knowing that it's a sizzling sea of electrifying fusion that will endear itself, long-term, to everyone that has the privilege to own it. Instrumental prog-fusion rarely sounded so full of life and vitality.
SIMON STEENSLAND: Kamikaze United CD
Previously known for his more esoteric studio works, this is his best to date, and oddly enough, a live album. Recorded in excellent quality, this is the sound of bassist/guitarist Steensland leading a band that is predominantly the trad fusion line-up of electric guitars, electric bass, keys/synths and drums/percussion, through a set of solid instrumental Zeuhl-influenced jazz-rock. The opener, all seven minutes of 'Parade' put me in mind of all-things Magma with a wicked, booming and oh-so solid electric bass right upfront, as the organ and synth provides the texture, the drums crunch and drive while assorted musical textures come and go, but overall, the track has a remarkably strong presence which is a great thing for the band. The percussion-organ-female wordless vocal to 'Kaspar's Theme' reminds you of the intro to many an eighties Offering (Magma) track for a brief respite before the band as a whole thunder in on 'Panterjakt' and the following 'The Return Of Instant Jesus', on both tracks, again, bass to the fore and providing some seriously on-fire Janik Top-esque runs as the keys, guitars and drums set up this intense driving groove that just gets higher and higher until you think the tension's going to explode - then it ends - and it's into the next track and the whole band fires up to go even higher, as the guitar opens up and the band sound a bit like Mahavishnu Orchestra (classic '7'3'-74 era) and but with more melody only just as intense. A brief slow interlude from the zither then lets the band to pile in and power up a the ten minute track sails to a glorious horizon. After this a further seven tracks display a perfectly recorded, played and produced slice of bass-led fusion music that will delight Magma, Can. Faust and Nekropolis fans all over the world.
TRAP: Insurrection CD
Like French TV? Fancy something similar with more of a prog bent at one end and more of a Krautrock fusion bent at the other? Fancy something that is explosively heavy? Welcome to the world of Trap. It's a stunning world - one that will challenge, one that will invigorate and one that will just blow you clean out the water. Revolving around a core trio of electric guitars and electric bass, drums and percussion, keys and synths, and featuring guests from French TV, Absolute Zero & Puppet Show, they play a highly charged brand of fusion that owes as much to Zappa as it does to Brand X and pretty well touching all points in between. It flows, it dives, it soars and it drives, it stutters, it stumbles and nearly implodes - but all the time it's unique, something in which to get your teeth and digest a mountain of originality, for you've rarely if ever heard an album like this. It practically dares you to listen, screams "come here if you think you're hard enough" and then rewards you with some of the most challenging hybrids of fusion known to man. It's an awesome experience, and when the band go straight and concentrate on the melodic and rhythmic normality, the whole thing takes off with the force of a Saturn V. Quite breathtaking, wholly innovative, seriously addictive and utterly amazing - you just have to hear this album.
PROG-ROCK:
AEOLUS: Dust on The Mirror CD
Well, it's strong, powerful prog for sure, but the vocalist certainly has a flair for the dramatic as he unleashes a performance to curdle the blood. The music is not what you'd call classic prog either, in the sense that it's also quite dramatic, tending to go in directions you'd not think that things like this would go, at times being almost scary, then suddenly erupting into so-called "normal" prog-rock bloom as a torrent of guitars and synths bursts into life. It's a difficult one for me, because it's certainly not the sort of prog-rock I like, but it most certainly is a quality album with writing, arranging and delivery obviously all top notch, but simply not for me. That's why you aren't getting an "it sounds like....." - because I haven't a clue who it does sound like.
ARAGON: The Angel's Tear CD
Long-awaited new studio album from 2004 and it's their most powerful, muscular and musically consistent album to date. They've still got the same vocalist - they guy with the accent who's got more than a flair for the dramatic - but there's a spark about the whole thing that makes him actually sound just about right in the context of the compositions that are in evidence, compositions that are way better than anything they've put out to date. With their eyes set on tracks that showcase every compositional quality that the band has, from hushed dynamics to all-out firepower, this is a remarkably good album in the history of the band's works so far. There's a whole new maturity to things, evident in the fact that the tracks are both tight and yet possess a real sense of flow to them, the synths and guitars working admirably to create the required atmospheres, while the vocalist does his level best to take on as many of the old seventies Genesis vocal stylings as he can possibly fit into one album without actually sounding like them. It generally follows a pattern of slow build, all-out attack, drop down to a whisper only to rise up and climb even higher, if you want it summed up, although it's rather more varied than that. Seriously anthemic in parts, symphonically dramatic in places and decidedly expansive, up-front production all go to together with the 8 songs that are solid and new-millennium progressive, to provide an album that is
ARAGON: Mr Angel CD
This one's a studio album with 11 tracks that last between just over two and just over five minutes long, so this is just the opposite effect from the concept album that is 'Mouse' - in other words, songs that start off right in the heart and heat of things, feature the odd solo along the way and are delivered with the familiar power and passion that this band put into their work. Again, the throaty Gabriel-meets-Meatloaf styled vocals dominate the proceedings on a set of songs that you'll either love or hate, depending entirely on whether you like short-ish prog rock songs, with accented, dramatic vocals.
ARAGON: Mouse DBLCD
What can only be described as a massive prog-rock concept album is unleashed across two CD's, over two hours and 34 tracks. Musically and vocally they cover every prog-rock style going, from the traditional Gabriel-era Genesis style story-telling, through the more dramatic story-telling style of song-oriented Grobschnitt right through to the power that is high-flying Dream Theater. The vocalist sounds like a good many people, mostly the sound of Meatloaf crossed with Gabriel as bizarre as that sounds, while the band can play anything from Genesis to U2. If you like the idea of a rock-solid, varied, decidedly prog-rock "magnum opus" on an epic scale, then this is right up your alley, but to me it was like crossing a ploughed field in a rainstorm.
